NGT allows Vedanta's Sterlite copper smelter to operate in Tuticorin

The National Green Tribunal gave its final clean chit to the Vedanta Group's Sterlite copper smelter factory in Tuticorin,Tamil Nadu

NEW DELHI: The National Green Tribunal gave its final clean chit to the Vedanta Group's Sterlite copper smelter factory in Tuticorin,Tamil Nadu. At the same time, keeping in mind the issues raised by the state pollution control board, the tribunal has issued a host of conditions which the factory must comply with. It has also set up a committee to examine health of people around Tuticorin and Sipcot industrial area in the district.

Thursday's order upholds the interim orders of May 31 and July 15, which permitted Stertlite Industries to resume full operations on the basis of the report by the tribunal appointed expert committee. The plant was ordered to be closed on March 30 by Tamil Nadu Pollution Control Board after residents complained of emissions that led to breathing problems.

The tribunal has asked the company to comply with the recommendations of the expert committee headed by PST Sai of IIT Madras and to present a time-bound programme within eight weeks. The green court has directed the company to commission "source apportionment study'' in and around SIPCOT industrial area in Tuticorin within a year, and to place the factory's data of stack and ambient air quality in `public domain'.

The Tribunal-constituted Special Expert Committee will supervise and oversee the manufacturing process and industrial activity including pollution related issues of Sterlite's copper smelter factory. It will submit a report to the Tribunal and the Tamil Nadu State Pollution Control Board once every two months.

The committee to study health related issues will comprise Tamil Nadu state government's health secretary, member secretary of the state pollution control board, the state's Director General of Health Services, MDMK leader Vaiko and two independent experts, to be nominated by the environment ministry, one from the field of environment and the other from public health. This committee shall conduct a study and place on record the causes for the health hazards that are resulting in and around the industries and the industrial clusters, like SIPCOT. These recommendations shall be placed before the Tribunal within a period of six months.

The NGT appointed expert committee, which submitted its report on July 10, found that the emissions from the unit were "within the permissible limits" set by the Central Pollution Control Board. "Upon stack sampling or ambient air quality monitoring, it is not being found that the industry was emitting sulphur dioxde gas or substances which were in violation to the prescribed standards," the report states.

The tribunal bench headed by chairperson Justice Swantanter Kumar in its final order said that there was nothing on record that justified the "invocation of precautionary measure". It went on to add that "it is, in fact, a punitive action in the garb of a preventive measure."

The bench said that the"case on hand is not a case of promoting development at the cost of the environment.... it has not been established that the industrial activity carried on by the appellant-company prejudicially, and in any way compromised either the environment or the interests of the future generations."